338. Jalsaghar (The Music Room) (1958)

Directed By Satyajit Ray

Synopsis

The same old story, penniless nobility meets arriviste noveau-riche bourgeoisie. Bourgeoisie envies nobility's status, nobility envies bourgeoisie's money. In this case the old Zamindar spends his last pennies giving a huge bash in order to outshine his rich neighbour after his house has gone into terrible decay and his family dies making him the last of his line.

Review

Satyajit Ray was a great director, we've already had two parts of his Apu trilogy here, and will have the third. Meanwhile we get Jalsaghar which works not only as a film on the decay of the zamindar (feudal land-owner type) system in India, but also as a great music film.

The great highlights of the film are the musical moments with some impressive performances, but underpinning all that is the desperate struggle of a man to remain something that he no longer is.

The film often feels too slow, that is, however, very deliberate, it not only emphasises the pure desperation of the situation but also contrasts with the at times ecstatic musical moments and last scenes of the film. It is all a grey and slow build-up, shot through with moments of brilliance, which really work for what the film is trying to do. Nice to see little Apu as the zamindar's son here as well.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The film features much excellent footage of Hindustani classical vocal and instrumental music, as well as classical dance. The musical score is by Vilayat Khan (although the credits for the Sony Pictures Classics video release mistakenly list Ravi Shankar as composer) and several major performers, including Begum Akhtar (first singer; sometimes credited as Akhtari Bai), Roshan Kumari (kathak dancer), Ustad Bismillah Khan and Company, Waheed Khan (surbahar player), and Salamat Ali Khan (second, khyal singer; sometimes credited as Salamat Khan) also appear in the film.

Amazing dance sequence: